Hard not to gloat as balmy climes get a taste of New England

Saturday

Feb 1, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

I am trying very hard to be kind these past few weeks as I read stories of the winter weather holocaust slamming people down South and hearing sad stories from people who normally brag of sunning themselves by their pools in January.

It has been cold up here this winter, there is no denying it, but not crushingly cold. There have been no -24 degree days, although the wind chill may have hit that at some point. Even -24 is manageable. You just keep your faucets running and put on extra long johns.

We in the news media love to ramp up the fear factor every time a storm hits, but often it is not the big storms that cause big problems, but random morning black ice issues that take us by surprise. By now even that should not be a problem, as the roadbeds have so much calcium chloride on them they may need to be plowed just to remove the dust.

But the weather in general this winter has hit more to the south than we normally see. I live in the snow belt of northern Central Massachusetts, where every storm has the potential of dropping down from Jaffrey, N.H., and burying our houses. We call those storms "a dusting." Most of us no longer keep a set of chains for our cars. We just drive carefully and cheer on the plow drivers as they pass by.

This year the Snowbelt has been unbuckled and lowered a bit, with the worst Massachusetts weather hitting Boston, Cape Cod and especially towns along the state's southern border. I may be wrong, but it seems there has been more bad weather in Worcester this year than Winchendon.

Down South is where the worst of it has been hitting. When we suffered through the horror of the polar vortex a while back, friends and family in North and South Carolina and Virginia had it almost as bad as we had it in New England. It hit more heavily on them because their cars had a hard time adapting, and they had to put on three or four bathing suits to swim in their pools.

OK, I admit, they probably weren't out swimming, but what I mean is their general lifestyle was severely disrupted. At least one person told me she was thinking of moving north for the winter where it is warmer.

This week things hit a new level. This winter we have had a few 8- to 10-inch storms, really just annoyances. We did what we do every winter for every storm. We shoveled out and headed to work for the day. Most winters there is at least one storm where I wished I could have stayed by the fireplace enjoying the snow falling outside my window. This year has so far has seen nothing that serious.

Most New England storms are just annoying. A good driver can get through almost anything. Those who run off the roads are just proof that natural selection is real and ongoing.

But this week the full horror of winter dumped down on the South when the Storm of 2014 buried some places with as much as 4 inches of snow, causing huge pileups, stranding motorists overnight, including schoolchildren, and lighting up Facebook like Christmas trees as people commented about the nightmare they were living through.

As I said, I am trying to be kind, but 4 inches? Even 8 inches is a pretty small storm. It worries me that some people seem to be completely unprepared for emergencies. Here, when a storm is predicted, we know what to do. We rush out to the stores, wrestle with little old ladies for the last jug of milk, fill up with gas and wait until the snow starts falling so we can do doughnuts with our cars in parking lots.

Down South they apparently ignore all warnings, shut off their furnaces, put bald tires on their cars and head out into the world after leaving their children at school.

Then they are stunned when all of Atlanta is closed down by 4 inches of snow.